Summer Reading…

I used to love Summer because it meant I could start working on my To Be Read pile.  Growing up the two times that the TBR pile would get lots of love is Christmas vacation and Summer.  For some reason, even after school ended and I associated Christmas and summer with reading time and new books.

Last year I didn’t have much time to read since I was looking for work and the TBR pile kept growing.  I’ve been reading more this year but I’m only on track on my Goodreads goal instead of ahead of the curve.  Interestingly, I haven’t been reading anything from my pile.  I’ve been getting library books, just like I did as a child.  However, there is a difference.   When I was a child, I would walk up to Millcreek Library and stay there until they closed.  Now, I hear about a good book, reserve it on the library app on my phone and when I get the text that the book is ready, I go pick it up.   It’s been ages since I browsed the library shelves.  Maybe I should, but I should probably finish up at least a few books from the TBR pile before it expands to a new surface.   It covers the bedside table, the dresser top and the top of the bookshelf.  Books that have been read and are worth keeping go into the bookshelf.   Then again, if I haven’t read them in this long, maybe it’s time to take the pile to the used bookstore and start again.

 

June WIPocalypse

I’m late taking the pictures for my June update post by almost a week.  Anyway I worked on two projects this month one is close to the beginning and one is close to the end.

I got warp threads onto the loom, but they aren’t in the correct harnesses.

The beginning of the warping for a pattern from my Finnish weaving book.

Interesting,  I entered this into the media library with a caption and that’s what I get when I post it.  I found a great way to keep the warp threads in order by using the light in room.  I need to remember what my teacher taught us about how to fix when you mis-harness the warp.

Progress in May for the June WIPocalypse

I’m down to just a hair over 5000 stitches left to finish TW’s Winter Carousel Horse.  I should be able to finish it this month if I can get some good stitching time.  My schedule says I should be working on one of the other Carousel horses and if finish this one this month, then I will start working on it.

 

It’s been awhile since I talked of economics…

but I’ve been seeing something I haven’t seen in a long time… Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonalds and the nursing home by my house all have Help Wanted signs posted on the street.  Three or four restaurants around work also have signs in their windows.  On top of that, there was a radio blurb I heard recently about how Utah no longer qualified for extended Federal unemployment help.  My employer has a policy that no hire is placed until it’s approved by the CEO, yet we have positions posted every week and they aren’t entry level (although there are always several of those too).  If you know a JAVA programmer in UT, AZ or TX we’re offering a hiring bonus (team is in SLC but they’re willing to take hub location hires at this point) and I would be happy to forward the resume.

In addition, home prices are rising and the buyer that DH has been shepherding around was told by her lender that she should plan on offering more than the asking price if she expected to land a HUD or HomePath home.  It’s become a sellers market because there are people moving into the state and not enough houses to go around.

Yet, after the election in France and the movement against balanced budgets in Europe (and the inability of the US Congress and President to balance our budget).  I can’t help but wonder if this is just a short lived bump and we’re going to double dip.  Then the jobs report came out and the numbers for the last 2 months were revised downward.  They keep saying that there are no construction jobs hiring since building hasn’t recovered and isn’t expected to recover for some time.  The next story is one about how the average unemployed person in Utah claims benefits for less than 14 weeks so the state is going to lower the rate that employers pay for the premium toward unemployment insurance.

I cannot live on fear, I need to take things one day at a time and be happy with what I have now without worrying about what the future will bring.  Live as if today is your last day but spend as if you will be broke tomorrow.